Slovenia becomes one of the pioneers in the EU with eCall

Kranj, October 11—Iskratel has welcomed a hundred of public safety experts at the international expert consultation meeting Testfest, organized by ERTICO/ITS and ETSI, hosted by Sintesio Slovenia with the support of Iskratel. ERTICO strives for safe, smart, and clean mobility, which is becoming a part of everyday life for everyone in the world, regardless of their social, cultural, or geographical situation. Thanks to Iskratel, Slovenia is among the first European countries to implement the eCall solution. The company also plays an active role in developing the 5th generation networks (5G).

The experts, mainly from the fields of development engineering, electrical engineering, computer science, mathematics, and related sciences, come from nearly 40 companies in 15 different countries. These include world leaders in their respective areas, such as Tesla, VW, Škoda, Robert Bosch, Yamaha, Huawei, Jaguar Land Rover, Kyocera, and many other companies. Slovenian companies are represented at the event by Iskratel and Telekom Slovenije. The common interest of the participants is the eCall solution; thanks to Iskratel, Slovenia is at the forefront of its development and the first country in the EU to put the solution into operation.

eCall is based on the internationally established 112 emergency number service. All vehicles manufactured from 2016 onwards must have built-in sensors that are automatically triggered in the event of a collision or an accident. This automatically activates calls to 112 or call centers, via different technologies in a specified order. The site of the accident is automatically and promptly identified, and the dispatchers know where the rescue teams are, which makes the emergency response much faster and more efficient. Slovenia’s Iskratel manufactures the required devices for both call centers and vehicles.

The expert consultation meeting is primarily intended for testing the interoperability of eCall devices by different manufacturers and reviewing the status of the project, in particular, the activities of the participants from the point of view of technological development and marketing, such as first experiences in the application of the solution, regulation in the area concerned, the development of the new generation of mobile networks, 5G, as the first network to take into account the requirements of the solutions that will be using it in the development phase already, according to Jacob Bangsgaard, CEO of ERTICO.

The Head of the Notification Center of the Administration of the Republic of Slovenia for Civil Protection and Disaster Relief, Boštjan Tavčar, highlighted the benefits of the eCall solution for the residents and the society at large at a press conference, particularly stressing the importance of enabling faster response times and providing the exact location of the accident for saving human lives. A human life may depend on the time it takes to determine the location of the person in need of aid and to transmit this information to the emergency services. It is anticipated that the introduction of this system in the European Union will reduce the number of traffic fatalities by 2,500 per year. Timely intervention is crucial for reducing the consequences of accidents, ensuring faster rehabilitation of the person injured and, thus, their quicker return to work and integration into society.

Iskratel already active in developing 5G networks

Iskratel’s CEO Željko Puljić pointed out that Iskratel is actively involved in the development of the new generation of networks—5G. 5G is not merely a new generation of faster mobile networks for Internet access: it is an entire comprehensive vision of a network providing mass connection of various devices (the Internet of Things—IoT) and network support for the requirements of various applications and solutions deployed in the digitalization process. For the first time ever, the network concept of 5G features virtualization, which allows to distribute the network infrastructure among various industries and users in a secure and reliable manner. The vision of the 5G network thus impacts the development of the majority of products developed by Iskratel under its strategy as a provider of telecommunications solutions and solutions for industry digitalization. In designing and managing the Internet of Things (IoT) solutions, including eCall, the company focuses on the essential connection between the solution itself and the implementation and operation of the network, providing secure and reliable communications for the service, which is especially crucial in the case of extraordinary events.

Dr. Roman Kužnar, Director of the Sintesio Foundation, highlighted the role of the foundation in standardizing and testing next-generation infocommunications solutions and emphasized the prominent part that Slovenia and its experts have played in this project, by virtue of which Sintesio was entrusted with hosting this annual event of paramount importance.